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Cardinal Fall To St. Mary's 3-1 In Moraga

Moraga, Calif. - Sophomore middle blocker Lizzie Suiter's career-high 10 blocks were not enough as the 11th-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team was upset by the St. Mary's Gaels, 3-1, tonight in Moraga. Game scores were 24-30, 30-26, 34-36, 27-30. The Cardinal fall to 9-3 on the year as the Gaels improve to 11-1 heading into the weekend's competition.

Senior Ogonna Nnamani moved into sixth place in career kills in the Pac-10 with 1,867, surpassing Arizona's Barb Bell (1,859).

SMC jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in game one and led 11-6 as Stanford called their first timeout. The Cardinal continued to struggle to put the ball away, falling behind 16-8 to force a final SU timeout. Stanford made up some ground, pulling to within five at 13-18 on a kill by Jennifer Hucke. The Gaels called their first timeout, leading 19-15, after a St. Mary's hitting error. SMC led 25-21 after a Stanford service error and reached game point at 29-23 on another Cardinal service error. The Gaels would win game one on a kill by Stacey O'Connor at 30-24.

Game two began much as game one did, with St. Mary's taking the early 5-2 lead. The Cardinal were forced to take their first timeout, trailing 5-10 after another Stanford hitting error. With SMC leading 14-8, SU strung together three consecutive points to close the gap to 11-14 as the Gaels took their first timeout. The Cardinal would close to within one at 16-17 on a kill by Ogonna Nnamani but SMC rallied to score the next three points to open up a 20-16 advantage as Stanford took its final timeout. O. Nnamani tallied three consecutive kills to bring the deficit back to one at 19-20. The Cardinal would tie up the game at 24-all as the two teams traded points until Stanford went up 28-26 on a kill by Kristin Richards. Bryn Kehoe got the Cardinal to game point at 29-26 with a kill. Franci Girard closed out game two, 30-26, with a kill to even up the match at one game apiece.

The two teams remained close early with the game tied at five-all until the Cardinal went up 9-6 on a Hucke service ace. SMC would tie up the game again at 14-all on a service ace. Both squads would trade points until the Gaels went up 18-16 as Stanford took a timeout. The Cardinal tied up the game at 18-all but St. Mary's strung together three points to go up 21-18. A block by Franci Girard and Jennifer Hucke would tie the game up again at 24-all as the Gaels took their first timeout. Stanford took their final timeout as St. Mary's went up 26-25. St. Mary's held off five game points to take the lead at 34-33 and won the game 36-34 on their second game point.

The Gaels started strong in game four, staking a 7-4 lead early on and force a Cardinal timeout at 9-5 after back-to-back kills. As the two squads hit the halfway mark, SMC led 15-12 after a kill by Kaui Salzman. The Gaels continued to hold the lead, going up 20-16 after a bad set by the Cardinal. Stanford would take their final timeout, trailing 21-16. SU closed the gap to 21-23 but could get no closer as St. Mary's reached game and match point at 29-26 on a kill by Salzman. Another Salzman kill closed out the match at 30-27.